the grew of age in politics in the clinton administration and watched pelosi and harry reid vote for tax increases under bill clinton that are the taxes we would go back to if we do nothing. at the same time, i watched nancy pelosi lead the charge against the bush tax cuts that ultimately now they want to keep 98% of. the truth is if we go over the cliff on a tax basis, we're only going back to the clinton era taxes. if we don't change spending, we're going to stay over the cliff. even if we go back to the clinton tax rates, the clinton tax rates, which is what the cliff is described as, you still have nearly half a trillion dollars a year, $5 trillion over ten years worth of deficit. that's because while we grew the -- under bush the taxes revenue went up 25%, and spending went up 100% in the last 12 years. if you put back the revenue from the higher taxes, you still have a deficit. that's what we're trying to change. >> we kind of are where we are, and no one is talking about spending cuts. they're talking about keeps taxes low, which everybody agrees. let me ask a specific questio